Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules By Jeff Kinney
After an embarrassing summer, Greg Heffley is keen to go back to school. The sad thing is, the moment he arrives, his schoolmates avoid him. Why did they avoid him? Because he still has the “Cheese Touch” from last year. Luckily, he welcomed the new kid with a good old pat on the back, giving him the cheese touch without any fuss. His journal entries are based on his family. His brother Rodrick is a lazy, drum-playing dude. Unfortunately, he’s the only person who knows about Greg’s embarrassing summer. If Greg doesn't want anyone to know, he has to treat Rodrick the way he would want to be treated. Greg’s mother really embarrassing. She always gets in the way, following him to his friends house to watch what they're doing, making him take drum lessons from Rodrick, forcing him to help a little kid in a magic act for the talent show AND sending him to his Grandpa’s place—the place where Greg's most embarrassing moment happened. Now I'll tell you Greg's secret! In Leisure Towers (Grandpa's Place) he went to the Lady's bathroom. He couldn't come out until all the ladies went out. The rumour started spreading at school but the details got mixed up. It turned out, people thought that he went into the girls bathroom at school to take photos. Everyone thought he was so cool but the girls thought he was the grossest person ever.
2
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw By Jeff Kinney
It’s New Year’s Day and Greg Heffley’s parents are deciding on what their resolutions are. His couch-potato mum plans to start goin to the gym, while his snacky father wants to go on a strict diet. As if that would happen! His mother’s back in front of the TV and his father’s feasting on Greg’s snacks in their basement. Greg didn’t have a resolution this year. He’s already the best he can be, beside's from getting awesome grades, being athletic and being popular with the girls. Unfortunately, his father thinks he needs to improve, and improve alot. Especially compared to his boss’s sons who are strong, muscular sport fanatics. After catching Greg in his mum's bathrobe and watching him spend fifteen minutes trying to make the remote control levitate with his mind, his dad gets fed up with him. He signs Greg up for a soccer team. Greg then becomes the team’s best benchwarmer but the worst goalie. Greg and his father run into Lenwood Heath, the naughtiest teenager in the universe. Only now, Lenwood attends military school and works at a the cinemas(part-time job). Seeing his father’s face, Greg knows the worst is coming—he’s going to sign him up for military school! Greg has to think of a plan…and fast! Instead of enjoying a relaxing, video-game-playing summer, he’ll be doing sprints and push-ups instead.
3
I love you, Jason Delaney By Diana Kidd
Life for Alyson Gold is full of questions - and also full of waiting. She's waiting for her first real kiss, she's waiting for Dad to unlock Aunty Mim's door and she's waiting for Jason Delaney. Ali didn't know that missing someone could be a real, bad pain. Dad must be hurting too, but he won't talk about it. He just closed the door to Aunty Mim's room and shut her spirit in there. But Ali needs to be let in . . . into her Dad's sadness and to the wonderful secrets left behind by Aunty Mim - her very best friend in the world.
4
The Tale of Despereaux By Kate DiCamillo
When Despereaux was born, he looked nothing like his brothers and sisters. He was the tiniest mouse in the universe, but it's ears were enormous. And he grew into the most unusual mouse that his family could imagine. While his siblings hunted for food crumbs, Despereaux read stories of fair maidens and knights in silver, shining armour. One day, Despereaux hears the most wonderful sound. It’s the sound of lovely music. From a little hole in the wall, Despereaux watches King Phillip strum the strings of his guitar and sing to his daughter, Princess Pea. Amazed, the miniature mouse moves closer to the music. That’s when the princess notices him. Unlike most human beings, she’s kind to Despereaux. And before he knows it, Despereaux falls in love with Princess Pea. According to the Mouse Council, mice must never, get into contact with humans. That’s why, when Despereaux is spotted talking to the princess, the Mouse Council sends him to the dungeons where he must suffer a horrible death at the hands of the castle’s beastly rats. Fortunately, Despereaux escapes. While making his escape, he hears a vicious rat and a servant girl making plans to capture Princess Pea. Despereaux knows that only he can save his admired princess.
5
Diary of a Would - Be Princess By Jessica Green
This book is the diary of Jillian James, class 5B. Jillian’s ambition, as well as not having to have timeout at recess for not writing enough in her diary, is to be part of the popular Princess Group. The Princesses always look trendy, are always behaved in class, and sit together everytime. Jillian isn’t a like a Princess. Not one single bit. The Princesses accuse her of being a dork, because she has a seat next to Nigel. Jillian doesn’t want to be a dork and she doesn’t want to be friends with Nigel, even though he comes to her house and helps her with her homework. In a bumpy ride through year five, Jillian learns that being a Princess isn’t the only thing in life worth accomplishing, and that friends can come in different packages.
6
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy By Ally Carter
It's a new semester at the Gallagher School for Exceptional Young Women, and Cameron Morgan (Cammie) is keen to put the events of last semester behind her. After a worrying CIA debriefing , she’s ready to commit to her promise to stop sneaking around. But then she overhears her mother and one of her teachers talking about Blackthorn or Blackthorne (as Cammie thinks it is). Cammie and her roommates have to know: what is Blackthorn, and does it have anything to do with the east wing of the school suddenly being shut down? Things are getting more complicated by the arrival of boys at the Gallagher school. They are boys who have the same training and education as them girls. Gallagher Girls are trained for situations, but can they remember everything they’ve been taught?
7
The Secret Garden By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mary Lennox is a stubborn little girl. She's always sick, her parents have died of a disease called Cholera , she's been taken from her home in India and now she's living with her crazy uncle in Yorkshire, England. She hears crying in the halls, meets a boy who can communicate with animals and finds a secret door that she wants to try and open. Mary hears about a secret garden that used to belong to her Uncle's wife who died during giving birth. With a little investigation and a lot of luck, Mary finds the garden. Around the same time, she discovers that the noises she's been hearing are actually her cousin, who is so sick that he can't walk and is always hidden away by his father. While Mary's friendship blossoms with her cousin Colin, the animal-communicator Dickon and her uncle's gardener, so does her secret garden. Mary and Colin learn that they're stronger, kinder people than they ever imagined. Most of all they learn that happiness doesn't just happen to you - you have to decide to be happy.
8
Alice in Wonderland By Lewis Carrol
One day, a girl called Alice, sits under a tree next to her sister. She peeks into the book her sister is reading but there are no pictures or conversations. She doesn't get the point of making books with no pictures or conversations. She then sees a rabbit hopping along. Alice thinks she's hallucinating but then it gets a watch from it's waistcoat. She then decides to follow it. She sees the rabbit going down a rabbit hole. Alice falls into the rabbit hole. She takes a long drop saying weird things to herself. On her way, she sees cupboards and bookshelves. Alice took a jar from one of the shelves. It was labeled ORANGE MARMALADE. She was very disappointed to see that it was empty. She then had lots of adventures. Alice shrunk, became a giant, met the white queen, met the red queen, had a tea party with the Mad-hatter, met Tweedledum and Tweedledee, learnt poems and songs, went into court and so on. At the end, she discovers that it was all a dream.
9
Boy: Tales of Childhood By Roald Dahl
This book is a detailed autobiography of the British writer Roald Dahl. It is about his ancestry, family dangers, school and sweets. His dad actually dislocated his shoulder and when they tried to fix it, it damaged even more so that led to amputation. Roald's oldest sister, Astri, died of appendicitis in 1920 when she was 7 years old. Roald was only 3 years old. His dad died two months later of pneumonia when he was 57. He writes about the free samples of the Cadbury chocolate and he says it inspired him to write Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Once Roald pranked the sweet shop lady (who didn't pay attention to her hygiene) by putting a dead mouse on a gobstopper jar while his friend distracted her by buying some sweets. They then got caned by the headmaster.
10
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days By Jeff Kinney
Greg had the worst summer ever. Greg Heffley and Rowley Jefferson are going to Rowley's country club because school is closed for the summer, but Greg is kicked out because he complained of the smallest things. Greg's family (the Heffley's) were about to go to the beach, but they don't have any money. So instead of going to the beach, they go to the town pool. Greg absolutely hates that place because he has to go through the men's changing room, with open showers, showing big, fat, hairy men. Later, at Greg's house, Rowley and himself got to Rodrick's bedroom. They find a horror movie called "Hello. You're Dead". They really want to watch it so Greg asks him mum if Rowley could stay for a sleepover. After watching the horror movie, Greg explains the whole movie to Rowley. Rowley was covering his eyes for the whole time. Greg tells him that the only scary bit was at the end when the muddy hand crawled towards the screen and then blacks out. Greg's mum, Susan, realizes that they have watched a horror movie. She knows that because Greg's dad caught them sleeping in the bathroom. She then starts a book club which Greg has participated in for only two days. The book club is put to a stop when Mr. Jefferson (Rowley's dad) arrives at Greg's house with a huge bill that Greg and Rowley spent on fruit smoothies at the country club, and he forces Greg and Rowley to pay it. Greg and Rowley started a lawn care service so they could pay the bill. Unfortunately, they could only mak eone flyer because Greg's dad wouldn't let them use his computer. Their first customer is Mrs. Canfield, who lives on Greg's gramma's street. They couldn't do the job properly due to difficulties and the instructions to the lawn mower were in Spanish. Rowley gets annoyed and quits the job because Greg said that he had to do most of the work while he counted the money. Greg mows Mrs. Canfield's lawn by himself, but she doesn't pay him because he didn't mow all of her lawn because of the dog poop on there. Greg’s birthday soon arrives, but the gifts he gets are all gifts he absolutely hates, including a useless cellphone (a ladybug) that only calls home and 911 (emergency number in the United States). This is because Greg's parents believe that he, like his older brother Rodrick, will just rise the bill up if he gets a regular cellphone. Greg gets money in every card he receives, but Susan, his mother, confiscates it to pay the bill Mr. Jefferson sent to them. Uncle Joe’s dog, Killer, eats half of the cake, ruining the birthday. The next day, he and Rodrick both get pet fish as a makeup gift, even though it wasn't Rodrick's birthday, which Greg said was "unfair". When the family takes a trip to a water park, Rodrick's fish eats Greg's fish after his mum puts Rodrick's fish in the same bowl because Rodrick didn't feed the fish or clean the bowl once and was starting to feed off the algae growing on the sides. The next day is Father's Day and the Heffley family visit Leisure Towers to spend the day with Grandpa. There, Greg's dad (Frank) tells the story of how his dog, Nutty, ran away into a butterfly farm. Greg's grandpa then explains that he had actually run the dog over and Greg's father takes off really annoyed. He then buys a dog for Greg which Greg's mum names "Sweetheart" and shortens to "Sweetie", even though the dog is a boy. Even though Greg has wanted a dog for a long time, he quickly gets annoyed with Sweetie, who sleeps on his pillow, sleeps on his bed, and won't stop barking at the telly, and the only way that gets him to stop barking is when a commercial with gophers popping out of holes comes up. Greg's mum keeps making Greg go to the town pool with her and Manny, which Greg agrees to only to hang out with Heather Hills, who is a girl lifeguard there. Greg tries to impress her, even though she hardly even pays any attention to him. One day, Greg decides to end the so-called "relationship" when he makes her clean a kid's vomit and was too sick to clean it himself after he had to save Manny from the naked, hairy shower people. The Jeffersons (Rowley's family) later invite Greg to go to the beach with them, which is where Greg had wanted to go, but he realises it wasn't what he expected, where he begins to have a breakdown from no electronics, almost got jumped by teenagers he pulled a prank on, and especially the Cranium Shaker, which almost makes Greg vomit. The first night Rowley and Greg both refuse to sleep on the nasty floor, so Greg tries to sleep under Rowley. Rowley wakes up screaming and saying he had a dream about a giant chicken hiding underneath him. Greg tries to entertain himself, but he is sent home after he snaps a rubber band at Rowley. Susan later tries to get Greg's dad and Greg together, but both of them realise that they should keep their own personal space. She even got them tickets for a baseball game, but Greg thought his dad was trying to get rid of him for the incident that happened earlier, and calls the police on him, only embarrassed to discover the truth, Sweetie is to be given to Greg's grandmother for company after her old dog Henry died. To get out of the game they gave the two cops their tickets. However, they both hate much of the same things, such as a comic named Li’l Cutie, where the writer has retired and passed it on to his son (who was the basis of the character when he was little) and has made the comic even worse than it originally was. The book ends with Greg realising that summer is over when he sees a photo album titled "Best Summer Ever!" It is a "horrible record" of that summer to Greg, but Greg writes that the person who had taken the pictures had told the story.
11
Waltzing Matilda Originally by A.B. Paterson
This book is the re-written version of Waltzing Matilda by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson. It is about a swagman and he goes camping at the billabong. He finds a jumbuck (a sheep) and stows it in his tucker-bag (esky). He starts singing "You'll go a-Waltzing matilda with me.
12
Pixie Tricks: Sprite's Secret By Tracey West
A girl called Violet meets a little pixie in the oak tree called Sprite. At first she thought the tree was talking to her but it appeared that Sprite was the one talking. He was sent by Queen Mab to get an eight year old girl to help trick 14 escaped pixies. There is a particular way of how to trick each pixie. When the pixie gets tricked, a big rush of wind comes and sends it to the Otherworld and sends it to Fairy Prison. Sprite carries a book with him called "Book of Tricks". It tells them how to trick each pixie. After the pixie has been tricked a picture appears in the book. Sprite also carries a bag of magical dust that can transport them to any place they want to go.
13
Pixie Tricks: The Greedy Gremlin By Tracey West
Violet has to trick a gremlin called Jolt. He loves playing video games and messing them up for other people. To trick him, Violet and Sprite need to get him to read a book. In one part of the book, they went to a video game store and heard some kids complaining about how their video game consoles wouldn't work. One kid said that when he goes left he goes right and when he goes forward he goes backward. They knew Jolt was doing all these nasty things. Violet had a plan to trick Jolt. She and Sprite went to the library to get some books like Peter Pan and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They went to where Jolt was and started reading the books out loud. They tempted Jolt but he just wouldn't stop playing his video games. Jolt then had some trouble with one of his video games. Violet said that he had to read the instruction manual. He got tricked and got sent to the Otherworld.
14
Pixie Tricks:Pet Store Sprite By Tracey West
15
Pixie Tricks: The Halloween Goblin By Tracey West
16
This Morning I Met A Whale By Michael Morpurgo
17
My Australian story: Cyclone Tracy, the diary of Ryan Turner, Darwin, 1974 By Alan Tucker
18
Danny the Champion of the World By Roald Dahl
19
My Australian Story: Snowy, the diary of Eva Fischer
By Jeff Kinney
By Jeff Kinney
Greg didn’t have a resolution this year. He’s already the best he can be, beside's from getting awesome grades, being athletic and being popular with the girls. Unfortunately, his father thinks he needs to improve, and improve alot. Especially compared to his boss’s sons who are strong, muscular sport fanatics. After catching Greg in his mum's bathrobe and watching him spend fifteen minutes trying to make the remote control levitate with his mind, his dad gets fed up with him. He signs Greg up for a soccer team. Greg then becomes the team’s best benchwarmer but the worst goalie. Greg and his father run into Lenwood Heath, the naughtiest teenager in the universe. Only now, Lenwood attends military school and works at a the cinemas(part-time job). Seeing his father’s face, Greg knows the worst is coming—he’s going to sign him up for military school! Greg has to think of a plan…and fast! Instead of enjoying a relaxing, video-game-playing summer, he’ll be doing sprints and push-ups instead.
By Diana Kidd
Ali didn't know that missing someone could be a real, bad pain. Dad must be hurting too, but he won't talk about it. He just closed the door to Aunty Mim's room and shut her spirit in there. But Ali needs to be let in . . . into her Dad's sadness and to the wonderful secrets left behind by Aunty Mim - her very best friend in the world.
By Kate DiCamillo
By Jessica Green
By Ally Carter
By Frances Hodgson Burnett
By Lewis Carrol
By Roald Dahl
By Jeff Kinney
Originally by A.B. Paterson
By Tracey West
The Greedy Gremlin
By Tracey West
By Tracey West
By Tracey West
By Michael Morpurgo
By Alan Tucker
By Roald Dahl